Secret Reporters No place to hide
Fejiro Oliver
Truth is the only treason in the empire of lies
Anonymous
In the run up to the 2015 election, some journalists and bloggers including yours faithfully were gathered in Lagos for a week to analyze the minds of the electorates and come up with whom to support for President? A month later, we were invited to Abuja to submit our individual and collective suggestion and agreement on whom to rally round during campaign. This was in December 2014 and January 2015.
We all came up with one answer. The electorates had lost confidence in President Goodluck Jonathan and needs an alternative in the All Progressive Congress (APC). At the end of the day, we all settled for Muhammadu Buhari and in our own little way started media and propaganda campaign for Buhari and against Jonathan. Our target was simple; discredit the Jonathan government in every way, as well as anything done by his government
It was a huge success. We succeeded as Journalists and electorates to chase Jonathan back to Otuoke and I have never regretted been part of those who campaigned for Buhari. This is one wrong that the Publicity Secretary of Peoples Democratic Party in Delta State, Mr Ifeanyi Michael Osuoza aka Agenda has not forgiven me till date. He sees me as part of those who brought the recession and suffering we are experiencing in Nigeria today.
He was comfortable with the looting that his party at the Federal level were committing and almost at the verge of selling Nigeria to Cameroun before Buhari came onboard. Osuoza is used to the old archaic way of carrying money in Ghana Must Go bags just because he’s a PDP chieftain and is unhappy with me because he can no longer share the loot. He was part of those who stole Nigerians blind. In a normal setting, he should be wallowing in jail if found guilty.
This anger is his reason for his recent article against me titled ‘Okowa’s Second tenure and doomsday commentators’, for daring to tell Governor Ifeanyi Arthur Okowa the truth in my last article to live up to expectations or forget his second term ambition. My sin is looking straight into the eyes of the government of the day and telling him to correct the errors in his government, an advice which the governor is very comfortable with, but makes his party Publicity Secretary uneasy.
If Osuoza is not comfortable with my presence around the government of the day, he should be bold enough to say it, than tagging me an opposition member. If the APC in Delta is dead, I will not take up their role of an opposition party, but will play my role as the moral compass of the government. A month after Okowa was sworn in, I made it public that I will be a moral guider to the government and I have not relented in that duty. I am not a card carry member of his party, even though I support the Okowa led government, and hence cannot be pushed into a ‘Yes Sir’ man. I am first and foremost a journalist who swore to tell the truth always before any affiliation with politicians. This is what the PDP image maker should and must know.
Osuoza should be told that his quest to be the next Commissioner for Information in 2019 cannot be achieved by casting aspersions on Fejiro Oliver. This was not how Patrick Ukah got his position. This was not how Charles Ehiedu was made the Chief Press Secretary to the Governor. We cannot remember when he was made a media aide to the governor but we can remember how he was selected to be his party’s spokesman; a job he has performed woefully and finally woke up to reply to a report that is not within his purview.
Why are most PDP executives so sycophantic in nature? Why is Osuoza dancing to a beat when the drumbeat is not meant for him? In all the familiarization tours of his Party’s Chairman, Kingsley Esiso to the twenty five LGAs, we didn’t see him issue any press release or enumerating the benefits of such tours to the party, but is quick to respond to my article.
If he wants a favor from Okowa or his Principal Secretary, Hilary Ibegbulem, he should go cap in hand begging them, than use my hard earned name to gain access. He should be concerned with challenging what the Social Democratic Party (SDP) Chairman alleged that the government has borrowed a whooping N150 billion in just two years in office. That way, he would be seen as reporting to another political party.
If he feels he must respond to everything I write or say about the governor or government, then he should be ready to sit behind the laptop everyday like I do. If responding to me is how he earns his pay, then he should respond to this. During the Delta at twenty five anniversary celebration, the governor told the world that the Ekumeku bridge roundabout was constructed by private partners as contributions to the event, which drew applause. Less than four months after, the governor stated that he spent N94.5 million constructing same roundabout and linking roads. I will speak no further on this, but let Osuoza answer this, since he has chosen to be the governor’s mouthpiece.
I do not want to counter the many lies in his reply, as doing so will be heating the polity and exposing the governor to scrutiny by mischievous persons. But permit me to ask the PDP vuvuzula where he got the statistics that the governor has generated over 70,000 jobs, directly and indirectly. I’m certain the figure only exist in his warped imaginations. Even the governor will not come before Deltans to say such, but here we have a lying serpent that is unfortunately the PDP lying machine dropping figures that don’t exist.
People like Osuoza are those who want to ruin Okowa’s second chance of clinching a second tenure by telling him what he wants to hear. The governor’s greatest enemy is Osuoza who will never tell him what the electorates are saying, but praising him, all for the sake of belletocracy. Men like the PDP Publicity Secretary provoke unwarranted attack on the governor, but I refuse to be pushed to dance to his tune. He should learn from the Communication Manager, Jackson Ekwugum who responded professionally with factual details of his principal’s achievements in just two years. If this is how to be a party spokesman, he has failed the acid test.
He should be hiding his head in shame that the factory in Issele Uku which is his zone is yet to be put to use while roads in Aniocha North are yet to be done, despite his exalted position as PDP loudspeaker. The people of Aniocha North should be thanking God every morning that this unrepentant liar did not get the chance to represent them in the House of Assembly. He would have sold out the constituency and sold lies to them. he has succeeded in putting himself on the spotlight and we will gladly monitor every of his movement and action as he discharge his duties.
In political analysis and reportage, with all humility, I have never failed. In political projection, I have always weighed the minds of the electorates as well as gotten information from the powers that be and have never gone wrong. From Buhari to Edo State and from Donald Trump to Ondo State, they have all been accurate. It didn’t just come with sycophantic study but in-depth investigations and survey. In projecting about Okowa’s second tenure chances, it followed same principles but hopefully and thankfully enough; the governor will get it right and take governance to the street.
He will not fail on this. Osuoza will not instigate media crisis so that he can benefit from. If he’s hungry and desperate for food and feels my name can rain down showers of blessings for him from Delta State Government House, I can help him with the N-Power job of Buhari by recommending his name to the office of the Secretary to the Government of the Federation. I will rather slap Okowa with the truth than kiss him with lies.
These little things matter…
Fejiro Oliver is Editor In Chief of Secrets Reporters News, Investigative Journalist, Media Consultant and Human Rights Activist can be reached on +2348022050733 (SMS ONLY) or secretsreporters@gmail.com. Engage him on twitter on @fejirooliver86.
